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Sunday, 24 August 2014

Not my shots.

These are not my shots, but a number of us will most certainly be in the 2nd one. The 1st photograph was at the Grey cheeked thrush in Herts (2005?), the second was at a Black-billed cuckoo on St.Mary's 1985 and what a day that was! We got of the Sickonian and within hours we had Rose breasted grossbeak,Parulla warbler,yellow-billed cuckoo,black-billed cuckoo,bobolink and red eyed vireo. Is that Steve Howell in the bottom left?

Probably one of the best days rarity-wise Scilly has ever had! There were reckoned to to be over 1200 birders on the island by dusk that Saturday...there was no point being on the mainland, no-one left there to find anything. Haven't times changed. And Black-billed Cuckoo remains a big gripper, long may it continue, not many left on my list from 1980s.

Also there but we did'nt catch up with until later in the week, Night heron, American GP, Black duck,bee eater,booted warbler and Pec sand. But the highlight of that trip was Dave Palmers son sat at one end of a storm drain and watching passers by walk past and as they did he shouted 'HELP! I'm stuck in the drain" unbelievable how many fell for it.

What's also very noticeable from the BB Cuckoo photo is how young everyone is. If you were at a similar-sized twitch nowadays the majority there would be old duffers (like us)!The golden age of British birdwatching....

Guess your right Seymour, the Philly Video crush in 1987 was a memorable event. Remember how many of the birders gathered there ran off when an easy to see Corncrake was found just around the corner, including me who needed it at the time. Yep, most of the birders were fresh-faced youths in those days, crappy bins and scopes and hardly two h'pennies to rub together, but still we all made the pilgrimage to the fables isles. No it's an old trouts hobby (no offence intended) so not long till my bus pass is due and I can chase birds up and down with the blue rinse set!

I think I can see a load of Hertel Reiss Televari scopes - sorry milk bottles in use - one guy has a spacemaster wow! AND next to no cameras - the opposite would be true today where camera devices would outnumber scopes and bins? That was one of the most memorable days in my birding life. Wasn't there a Rose breasted Grosbeak as well?

Slap, in those days I was the proud owner of a H & R scope and Optolyth bins, optics that were about as watertight as a mermaid's bra! Birding thr rain was a nightmare. As for birding attire, that was no less effective - yes drain pipe jeans (Levi, of course), a pair of Doc Martins and a Barbour wax jacket that had so many holes in it I looked as if I'd been shot with a blunderbuss. The modern birder doesn't know he's born.

Personally can't believe I ever managed to see anything through my old optics! These days without my Iphone I would be lost in the field. No field guides, no bird calls, no bird news, no phone scoping, no GPS (where are you ?... Errr not sure, I think I am on St Mary's, anyway it's sort of a brown field with a big green bush at the end somewhere near Telegraph...). The joy of finding a rare on the far side of Tresco followed by the pain of climbing the nearest tree to try and get a message out on your CB to all the birders sat in the Cafés on St Mary's! Like Phil says, never to be repeated experiences. Oh, and of course the pure joy of watching Glamorgan's finest birders disappearing on the Sickllonian as we all headed to St Agnes to tick Yellow-browed Bunting ;-)